A Walk to Lochnagar

[rhythmaning]

After having such a wonderful day on Saturday, I didn’t really feel like getting up at the crack of dawn to go hillwalking. I would much rather have slumbered at home with my wife, swimming in the sunny holiday spirit.

But since I haven’t been in the hills much this year, and it is a while since I have climbed Lochnagar (though this would be the fourth or fifth time to the summit), I did get up, sort out my gear, make my sandwiches, and walk into town to get on the club’s bus.

It is just that I was feeling really misanthropic as I did so.

I am not great in the mornings anyway, and the inane chatter on the bus, coupled by the driver’s insistence that everyone listens to Radio 1 (dreadful at any time of day – but 7.30 on a Sunday morning? Jeez!), did little to endear humanity to me.

I chose the route I wanted to walk on the basis of avoiding the people who would annoy me most – there are a couple of people who insist on talking all the way up whatever hills they climb – and went with the group who should really have had someone leading them for safety’s sake – so I did that.

Following chickenfeet2003’s advice earlier in the week, I lead from the front – several metres in front, in fact, though I made sure that I knew where everyone was. The weather, though not the wonderful sun of the previous day, was fine, and the rain held off (until I was walking home late into the evening).

I was actually a great walk. Although I have climbed the hill so often, Lochnagar is such a diverse mountain that it was only the second time I had taken this route, the standard climb from Loch Muick (that’s pronounced Mick</>, past the Pap and through the rockfield up to the cliff. It is a tremendous climb because of the views across the corrie to the summit – the other routes lack this, though they have a lot of other things going for them.

There was little snow – I had expected a lot more (I had even considered carrying my ice axe, just in case – see, I did learn something on that winter skills course!). It was quite chilly on the cliffs, a vicious wind from the east – though this kept away the rain that was meant to head down from the north: we could see the squalls over the Cairngorms.

It wasn’t a particularly long walk – maybe five miles each way – but since I haven’t been out since February, it was quite hard work.

Still, it made me feel that I had earned the fish and chips on the journey home!